9 of 1: A Window to the World

9 of 1: A Window to the World by Oliver Chin also has a message, but this one lacks the humour and subtlety of Annabelle Frumbatt. Chin tackles the aftermath of 9/11 from an original angle; his book documents America’s twentieth-century international relations faux pas through fictitious interviews by a high school history class in California. Each chapter tackles an issue—Japanese-American internment, annihilation of Native Americans, involvement in the Vietnam War, the battle for Jerusalem, Iraq under sanctions—with a blend of foreign-policy fact and sentimental fiction. The information is clear and well-researched and helps explain the world’s many grievances against America, but the illustrations don’t do anything for the story (perhaps they were included to entice young people to read the book). And Chin might have found a better device for presenting his important information than a fake series of poignant interviews.